Wow, now that was a busy month!
July 2012 was VERY full of filming. A wide variety of filmings. Belly punching, workout sessions, competitive matches. Many competitive mixed matches. And I even got in on one of them.
I'm going to
try to make this entry short, since I am in the process of selecting screen stills for the product page of our up-coming release of "VeVe Lane vs Mahea" (that's
here). I've got PhotoShop open and waiting for me, with images crying for yet more attention. But VeVe just mentioned to me that she was going to try and write a blog of her own, so that reminded me to poke my head in here.
I think I've got the cover photo selected for that one, so that means the hardest part of image selection aspect for a particular video. What one frame of the video can capture the essence of the entire piece... ? Since we've had a few varied essences this year, I've also been making some 4-way covers. However, of course, a single-image cover photo is larger and shows more detail.
Below, see single-image cover vs 4-way image cover:
See what I mean?
Anyway, that Tommi vs Hanz was from July as well. The Dancewear Judo Domination with VeVe and me was from June.
To kick-off July, I travelled to the SheMuscle gym with VeVe and Orlandoe in order to film various contests between the two. We filmed a 3-part fitness contest, as a follow-up to the Ab Workout Contest we filmed by special request in June. Those July contest events were, in this order:
Pull-ups,
Biceps Curls, and Sissy Squats. I placed those contests into our
MixedWrestlingNYC clips4sale store.
All except the sissy squats, that is. Why? Because the ladies ended up being able to do so many sissy squats in so many rounds, that the video of that particular event alone ended up being over 20 minutes long.... of just sissy squats, both bodyweight style and with dumbbells. So, that contest got pushed to the back of the queue, but I will try to get at it for anyone who really, REALLY just likes sissy squats.
We also filmed a two-way belly punching video, some sweaty glistening videos, and a video showcasing Orlandoe's under-arms. We also filmed some additional footage to give to SheMuscle. It was a great, long, productive, and very sweaty shoot day.
We also had the pleasure of filming with 3 professional female MMA fighters in July. We filmed a special request mixed match with
Toned Tommi and Hanz Vanderkill (see cover image above) on the very first weekend of the month. This was a 60-minute match of "athletic domination" style, and both match participants did a great job with the style and direction. Though Hanz was a fine choice for this particular video, I was a little sad not to get to have him face Tommi in a fully competitive match. I do plan on setting that up at some point, but we have to cycle through a few times on various opponents before we will line up a "rematch," even if it is in a different style.
We also filmed with the wonderful Bad Bad Bettie when she visited us in the middle of the month. We set Bettie up with a vote-determined video. Essentially, we asked the fans what they would like to see, created a poll, followed heatedly-debated discussions, and finally went with what the majority selected: a one-sided karate-esque strike-based video with Bettie in a karate gi (uniform) against a male opponent. Though we were originally looking to ShortFuse Mark to be our victim, since he was originally planning to be in town that day, Mark's travel plans fell through. So, Graveyard stepped up to fill in.
The result was a
Karate Strike-fest video in which Bettie showcased her punching, kicking, elbow, and knee accuracy against Graveyard. And it was Graveyard's job to survive the strikes, stay standing (except for round 3), and make it through the strike-fest. The video was 3 rounds long, which each round showcasing a different aspect of striking, moving from most punishing (face hits) to hitting the biggest area (body hits).
Then came the competitive wrestling escapades to finish off the month....
Toned Tommi returned to NYC at the end of July, this time accompanied by fellow female MMA fighter Mahea.
We were set up for a long shoot day with the MMA ladies to battle against Hanz, Adrian, and VeVe. However, a slight scheduling snafu held us up from our original shoot day, leaving VeVe, Hanz, and myself in the studio together. Never ones to waste a fight opportunity, we set VeVe up for a Mixed Wrestling Gauntlet. First, I took on VeVe in a 20-minute competitive match (never before seen on our site) while Hanz filmed. Following that, Hanz took on VeVe for
another 20-minute match, with only enough break for her to change her bikini.
The matches were grueling for VeVe and entertaining for her opponents. However, we filmed them under less-than-optimal lighting conditions, which resulted in less-than-immaculate image sharpness.
The result of
that?
They move to the back of the queue, sadly. Of course, we'd love to re-shoot this mixed wrestling gauntlet under better lighting conditions (except that I sprained my knee in jiujutsu class last week! so infuriating! so, it may have to wait a while).
The very next day, we rescheduled with Tommi and Mahea, and we all proceed to film a ton of matches.
We grabbed VeVe on her lunch hour and first filmed the
competitive female match of VeVe vs Tommi. That was two 10-minute rounds in bikini / two-piece outfit, followed by a 10-minute 3rd round in the jiujitsu gi (uniform). We also filmed an arm wrestling match after that.
Since Adrian was unavailable for the Monday shoot, we immediately called on Blazin' Ben. It was a very last-minute shot in the dark, but with only a few hours' notice to prepare, Ben responded affirmatively and made it over for the match. And so, about 10 minutes following her match with VeVe,
Tommi took on Blazin' Ben in a competitive mixed match of 20 minutes in length.
We took a break for a few hours and then returned later in the evening to film
Mahea vs Hanz. As far as I know, this was the first competitive mixed match on video for Mahea (pronounced "ma-HEY-a"), though, being a pro MMA fighter, she has her fair share of training experience with male training partners.
Then, two days later we reconvened to filmed the final match of the month: VeVe vs Mahea. Again on VeVe's lunch hour!
And speaking of VeVe vs Mahea... yikes, I need to finish that photo selection process! Well, I did say I would
try to make the entry brief. However, the month itself was not brief, and it just wouldn't be fair to short change it, given all the action that is fresh in my mind.
Ok, back to getting that video all set to go. And now, onward into August!
